Tips

I used canned chickpeas because it’s fast and easy. I went through a phase a couple of years back where I cooked all of our beans and legumes from scratch, but I just don’t feel like spending the effort these days. It’s definitely cheaper this way, but it’s more time-consuming, so it’s totally up to you. The vegan deviled egg filling will taste the same either way.

If your avocadoes are on the small size, just use a whole one in this recipe. The amounts are pretty forgiving, so it will turn out great regardless of how much you use.

The avocado, along with the lemon juice, takes the place of the mayonnaise that you’d normally find in a vegan deviled egg filling recipe. I’m a big fan of using whole ingredients wherever I can (and I also can’t be bothered whipping up a batch of macadamia mayonnaise), and the avocado adds a wonderfully rich and creamy texture to the vegan deviled egg filling.

Savoury yeast flakes are just a dried and flaked variety of yeast that add a lovely cheesy taste to recipes, along with heaps of protein and vitamins.

I prefer to use fresh lemon juice in all of my recipes, and I’m also blessed to have a next-door-neighbour with a massive lemon tree than I can harvest from at any time of day or night. If you only have access to bottled lemon juice, you might need to add a smidge more (yes, very technical I know) to get the balance of the tang just right.

I’ve tended to use dry mustard powder in this recipe because it’s fast and convenient, but sometimes if I’m lucky enough to have a jar of fresh mustard seed relish in my fridge, I’ll use that instead. They both taste great, but because the mustard powder is dried and more concentrated than the fresh version, you’ll need to add less of it.

You can use your favourite curry powder in this vegan deviled egg filling recipe, but if you’re all out of curry powder, or you want to try making your own, you can give my homemade curry powder mix a go. You’ll probably want to adjust the quantity of curry powder that you add, based on how hot your curry powder is. My curry powder is quite mild, because that’s how I like it.

I add a pinch of cumin to the vegan deviled egg filling mix because I think it helps to round out the flavours that little bit more. Of course, it is only a pinch, so the impact is subtle, and it will be very much affected by the curry powder that you use. Play with it and see how much of it you think it needs.

I add a small amount of salt and pepper at the end, more out of habit than anything else. With all of the strong flavours in this recipe, you could probably skip this if you wanted and you’d barely notice.

Although the paprika and chives or spring onions are mostly for adding colour to your finished creations, they do actually add something to the taste experience as well. But if you don’t want to use these exact ingredients, feel free to play around with other similar fresh herbs and spices.

If you want to make your vegan deviled egg filling look even fancier, you can make it in your food processor or blender and process it until it’s totally smooth, and then use a piping bag with a fancy end to fill your “cup” of choice. Then just sprinkle it with paprika and wow everyone with your vegan creativity!

Variations

Now for the fun part! Deciding what to serve your vegan deviled egg filling in:

Tomato: This is my “go to” option for serving this mix in, because they’re fresh, colourful and tasty, and very quick to prepare, especially if you don’t remove the seeds. Honestly I just tend to cut my tomatoes in half and top them with the filling, mostly because I can’t stand to waste the seeds. But you would get more filling in your tomatoes if you took them out. It’s totally up to you. Any tomatoes can work, but smaller tends to work better for finger food.

Avocado: This is a slightly different experience, partly because avocados are richer and less “fresh” tasting than tomatoes, but also because they’re usually bigger. Just chop one on half, remove the seed and stuff the middle with the deviled chickpea filling. Served this way, it becomes a side dish all on its own.

Roast/baked potato: This vegan deviled egg filling is a great topping for roast potatoes. It’s creamy, cheesy and spicy, and is the perfect complement to the neutral taste of baked or roasted potatoes. Once again, this would make a pretty filling addition to any meal.

Tofu slices: If you want to make this into finger food, then serving it on square slices of tofu work well. Just use a firm tofu and drain it as thoroughly as you can before starting. Once again the strong flavours of the curried chickpeas balance out the neutral flavour of the tofu brilliantly.

Flax crackers: You could also serve this vegan deviled egg filling on top of flax crackers, although the moisture in the filling will make the crackers soften up fairly quickly, so this isn’t one you’ll want to leave sitting around before eating. Spread, top and eat immediately!

Zucchini rounds: Another great cracker alternative for finger food is slices of zucchini. They’re strong enough to hold any fillings, neutral enough not to overwhelm the flavours of the toppings and less prone to going soggy than dry crackers. Just be sure to use smaller zucchinis to avoid having a hollow seedy part in the middle of your raw “crackers”.

Agar and milk “eggs”: I haven’t tried this variation yet myself, but I’m super keen to give it a try. You just boil up some agar with some dairy-free milk, and pour it into appropriately-sized Easter egg moulds to create vegan “boiled eggs”. And then you just scoop out a hollow in the middle and fill them with the vegan deviled egg filling. How cool is that? I’ve posted some links below in the resources section to some recipes for doing this.

Of course, you don’t even need to serve this vegan deviled egg filling like this.

You can just spread it on your sandwich or wrap, or use it as a dip with fresh veggie sticks.

The possibilities are endless.

My inspiration

I used to love eating my mum’s deviled eggs as a kid, and I found myself missing the flavours one day, so I went looking for a vegan alternative.

I also wanted to find a way to use more chickpeas in my recipes, and I was looking for more ideas for dips and spreads for lunches.

So when I came across this recipe for deviled tomatoes at Veg Kitchen, I was very excited to give it a try, and it didn’t disappoint.

I adapted the recipe to use even more whole foods, and tweaked the flavours until it was as close I could get to the taste I remembered from my childhood.

I’ve eaten this vegan deviled egg filling in so many different ways, because it really is that versatile.

And I hope you’ll love it as much as I do.

Resources

If you want to have a go at making your own vegan agar boiled eggs, here’s a couple of recipes to get you going:

My favourite cookbooks

My favourite kitchen gadgets

Having the right gadgets has totally changed my experience in the kitchen.

High-speed blender

I use my Vitamix blender at least 2-3 times EVERY day. It's fast, so versatile and super quick and easy to clean. I couldn't live without mine. I absolutely love it!

Food processor

I use my powerful food processor three or four times a week, for making nut butters, desserts, sauces, burgers and more. It's great for large batches and dishes that need texture and just makes "cooking" so much faster.

Dehydrator

I use my 5-tray Excalibur dehydrator once or twice a week, for crackers, breads, biscuits, cakes or even just for thawing things. It does an awesome job and makes eating raw SO much easier.

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